counterstrikefandomcom-20200222-history
Hostage
A hostage is an artificially intelligent NPC in the ''Counter-Strike'' series. Overview Hostages are the basis of Hostage rescue scenarios. They are civilians that are held against their will for political or monetary gain by a or several groups of Terrorsits. Counter-Terrorists groups on the other hand are called to rescue them when negotiation is no longer an option. Counter-Terrorists must either safely escort them to a Hostage rescue zone for extraction or eliminate the entire opposition. Terrorists on the other hand must prevent them from doing so by either running down the clock or eliminating the opposing force. Gameplay & History Counter-Strike: Beta Hostage rescue being the first scenario ever created for the series, Hostages have been appearing since then. Their role was somewhat different. Although still requiring to be rescued by Counter-Terrorists, the round win wasn't determined by it. In fact up until the fourth beta, hostages were nothing more but a means to earn more cash at the end of each round, should the team earning the bonuses win the round by eliminating the opposing team. Hostages weren't automatically rescued, requiring user input once they'd reach their spawn point as Hostage rescue zones wouldn't be implemented until the second beta. Hostages could also be moved by Terrorists and be used as meat shields when needed, this feature was removed in the fifth beta. Hostages could also be moved around simply by walking up against them. The third beta saw a significant improvement for hostage path finding. They would less often get stuck in walls, door or surface and would keep up with the player. The gameplay was overhauled at the fourth beta, hostages became more than a simple monetary and became the keystone of the rescue scenario we know today. 50% of the hostages had to be rescued by the Counter-Terrorists to ensure their victory, otherwise the match victor would be either determined by elimination or running down the clock, which in most cases would lead to Terrorist victory. The fifth beta would cause any hostage entering in contact with the hostage rescue zone to be rescued, no longer requiring Counter-Terrorist input. Hostages were also given new models as so far, all the hostages re-used the Half-Life scientists models. The sixth beta finally introduced a kick penalty for killing hostages, as it was common practice for Terrorists, despite the presence of a monetary penalty, to execute hostages so that the match outcome would be solely determined by elimination. ''Counter-Strike'' and Counter-Strike (Xbox) The retail version of Counter-Strike kept most of the core changes that were brought over the course of the beta. Hostages are held in a Terrorist stronghold and must be rescued by Counter-Terrorists by being led to a Hostage rescue zone. Counter-Terrorists are either required to eliminate the entire opposing team or rescue ALL of the hostages before time runs out. Any other scenario lead to Terrorist victory. The Xbox version of the game did not bring any significant changes other than giving each rescue map a different hostage model and giving said hostages new quotes. ''Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Although the core of the Hostage rescue scenario hasn't changed, Turtle Rock Studios' newly implemented hostage AI has brought significant changes to the gameplay. Hostages received significantly improved mobility, gaining the ability to jump, crouch, crawl to reach their intended destination. This opened up additional rescue routes that were previously impossible due to the limitation of the hostage AI in the previous games. Hostages also received a much wider array of lines and reacted to their environment and situation. Counter-Terrorists would be warned of nearby Terrorist presence, waved at and called to indicate current location and constantly ask to be saved and/or encourage their rescuer. Hostages can also be told to follow from a distance unlike any other game in the series, as it required face to face interaction. Atop of being discouraged and talked into surrendering, Terrorists would have to pay much closer attention to the hostages as when left unguarded, they would wander off and attempt to reach the Hostage rescue zone on their own or contact the nearest Counter-Terrorist. A Terrorist can force back a hostage to his initial captivity point by having a crosshair pointed at them. Terrorists can also know when hostages are being rescued as they speak to their rescuers. Hostages also react to grenades. They will yell when blinded by Flashbangs, cough when passing through a Smoke grenade's smoke and run for their lives when being near a live HE grenade. Out of self preservation, they also cower when being near firefights and run when injured. Hostages can also be pushed. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes Hostages in the Deleted Scenes are closer to their Counter-Strike counter-parts. Although not having as many features, they are critical to Hostage rescue scenarios as a single one of them dying automatically results in mission failure. Their model and language depend on the setting and location of the mission. Counter-Strike: Source ''Counter-Strike: Source while still being developed by Turtle Rock Studios, opts away from the AI introduced in Condition Zero to revert back to the original static behavior of the hostages. New models recycled from Half-Life 2, quotes from Condition Zero and improved AI are features differentiating present hostages from their original counter-part. In addition, gameplay has been altered so that if hostages died during the match, Counter-Terrorists could win by rescuing by the remaining ones. ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive During the beta and during the first year after release, the Hostage rescue scenario and hostages worked and behaved the same way they did in ''Counter-Strike: Source. This was changed during the March 21st 2013 update, the gameplay of the mode and the hostage "behavior" getting a massive overhaul. All Hostage rescue scenarios no longer had the standard four hostages, but instead had two that would be assigned random positions from an array of spawn points included in the maps. Being on their knees and tied, hostages are no longer escorted, but carried, requiring Counter-Terrorists to reach them, untie them, a process that took 4 seconds (1 with the newly added Rescue kit), all to finally carry them to the Hostage rescue zone. Only one hostage can be carried at a time and only one rescue was enough to ensure Counter-Terrorists' victory. Hostages are also invulnerable. This does not prevent cash penalties when wounded or when killed (should the right console commands be called). When reached and carried, the rescuer will be slowed down, with one additional minute added to the round timer as compensation. Rewards & Penalties ~ There is no limit to how much damage a hostage can take. Even if the damage is higher than their health, money will still be deducted for every point of damage dealt. This can result in extreme cash penalties for a single hostage casualty. For instance, a point blank AWP headshot will result in a -$11980 penalty. The maximum amount of damage a hostage can take per shot is 100, thus -$3000 is the maximum penalty per shot. Because hostages cannot die and cannot die under normal circumstances, it is possible to lose an infinite amount of money by hitting hostages. If damage is enabled through console commands, one can have a maximum penalty of -$4000 for killing a hostage (Health * Damage Penalty + Death Penalty) Notable hostages *The Delta Force Sniper in Recoil is the first occurence of a Counter-Terrorist being taken hostage. *Kenneth Hooks, an engineer responsible for the redesign of the toxic room of a nuclear facility targeted by the Phoenix Connexion. Abducted during the events of Planning Ahead in Office. *Alex Kincade, a journalist abducted by Chase Turner for the Phoenix. Detained during the events of Valeria's Secret Weapon and rescued during the events of The Extraction. *Ryan Jessup, abducted for informing the Coalition Task Force about a Phoenix Connexion heist during the events of Routing Number. Appearance & Appearances The Counter-Strike Beta re-used a lot of assets from Half-Life, this extended to the hostage models, reusing the scientist models for the most part and the G-Man on rare occasions. The orange jumpsuit Worker and African American Suit models commonly used in the retail version were added later in the 5th Beta, their model is simple known as "Hostage". The models used in the retail versions are the same as the Beta. With the High Definition Pack made available to Counter-Strike, when high definition models are enabled, all scientist models will be swapped with their Half-Life HD counterpart. This does not apply to the Worker, Suit or G-Man models. The Xbox version of ''Counter-Strike features higher shader version of Ritual Entertainment models. "US Gal", "Businessman", "NPC" and "Worker" renamed to "Blonde" and "Latina" for the first one, Businessman staying the same, "NPC" to "Young Businessman" and "Worker" to "Jumpsuit". Not many models from Gearbox Software's builds have been shown. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero introduced four new models for Hostages, all four workers in orange jumpsuits and blue jeans of varying ethnicity: "HostageA", "HostageB", "HostageC", "HostageD" Ritual Entertainment included a wide array of models and variants for use as hostages even including Counter-Terrorists being held hostage. The known models are as follows: "US Gal", "Businessman", "Schoolgirl", "NPC", "Seal Scientist", "Japcop scientist", "Worker", "Worker-Pilot". The Counter-Strike: Source hostage models and face maps are recycled Half-Life 2 citizen models, both retail and beta: The first model re-uses the face map of the cut character Samuel, model male 05 in the citizen list. The second model re-uses the face map of Winston, model male 06 in the citizen list. The third model re-uses the face map of the cut character Captain Vance, model male 08 in the citizen list. The fourth model re-uses Dr. Kleiner's beta face map, "Cohrt". Five variants of one hostage model exist in the current version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, all are wearing orange jumpsuits, are bare feet and tied, forced to wear a blindfold. Hostages also show signs of abuse as indicated by their bruises. Four other variants wearing suits were present in the beta but removed at released. While all the current models are forced into their knees and static, the console versions of the game still feature them standing as said versions never receive any updates. Tactics & Strategies * Hostages ignore falling damage, thus Counter-Terrorists can have hostages follow them and fall down from significant heights without taking a single point of damage. * Counter-Strike: Condition Zero hostages having significantly improved AI require more attention and care to. ** Terrorists should always be watching them as they can attempt to escape and assist the enemy. ** Counter-Terrorists can make use of all information given by a hostage, most notably enemy locations. Terrorists in the same way can use their reactions and speech as a mean of pinpointing their position and whether or not they are being rescued. * Rescue kits in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are a must-purchase as they considerably reduce the amount of time required to carry a hostage, allowing for speedy extractions. * Avoid using incendiary or explosive devices when around hostages as it can hurt them and result in severe cash penalties. * Counter-Terrorists should always check the area where hostages are held to avoid being killed by surprise when attempting a rescue. * Hostages in the Deleted Scenes being mission critical, one should be extremely cautious when around them. Achievements Counter-Strike: Source= ;Rescue |-| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive= ;Team Tactics Gallery Quotes Console Commands Counter-Strike= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 0 ** Toggles what information players see in the status bar0 everyone: players see all names listed in the status bar (with appropriate team colors)1 team only: players only see names for their teammates and hostages in the status bar2 off: players do not see any names in the status bar (hostages included) * ** Default value is 13 ** Max. number of hostages you can kill before the server boots you out... setting this to 0 will shut off this command. ;Hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** Non-functional * ** Default value is 0 ** Non-functional ;Render * ** Default value is 0 ** Turns on the occlusion calculations. If enabled, light halos (made by env_glow entity) and some explosions sprites won't be seen through AI Players (hostages in CS, scientists and monsters in HL) when behind them. |-| Counter-Strike: Condition Zero= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 0 ** Toggles what information players see in the status bar0 everyone: players see all names listed in the status bar (with appropriate team colors)1 team only: players only see names for their teammates and hostages in the status bar2 off: players do not see any names in the status bar (hostages included) * ** Default value is 13 ** Max. number of hostages you can kill before the server boots you out... setting this to 0 will shut off this command. ;Hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** When set to 1, enables debugging mode for hostages, indicating their movement and pathfinding with tracers as well as collisions in the console * ** Default value is 0 ** When set to 1, disables hostage AI and freezes them ;Render * ** Default value is 0 ** Turns on the occlusion calculations. If enabled, light halos (made by env_glow entity) and some explosions sprites won't be seen through AI Players (hostages in CS, scientists and monsters in HL) when behind them. |-| Counter-Strike: Source= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 13 ** Terrorist are kicked for killing too much hostages ;Hostages * ** Default value is 0 ** Show hostage debug information ;Navigation * ** Toggles the hostages cannot use this area flag used by the AI system. ;Server Variable * * Default value is 20000 ** How hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects (falls off with inverse square of distance). * * Default value is 1000 ** Maximum of how hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects. |-| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive= ;Cash * ** Default value is -30 ** How much money is lost on every point of damage dealt to a hostage * * Default value is 150 ** How much money is earned when attempting to rescue a hostage * ** Default value is -1000 ** How much money is lost when killing a hostage * ** Default value is 1000 ** How much money is earned upon rescuing a hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** How much money Terrorists earn per hostage kept alive at a win * ** Default value is 500 ** How much money Counter-Terrorists earn when attempting to rescue the hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** How much money Counter-Terrorists earn when rescuing a hostage ;Hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** Shows hostage debug info * ** Default is 0 ** When set, the hostage won't play any code driven response rules lines ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 2 ** Maximum number of hostages to spawn. * ** Default value is 1 ** Additional time added to round time if a hostage is reached by a CT. * ** Default is 1 ** Slow down hostages by setting this to < 1.0. * ** Default is 0 ** When enabled will consistently force the farthest hostages to spawn. * ** Default value is "" ** Forces hostages to spawn at specified hostage points * ** Default value is 1 ** Forces hostages to keep the same spawns for the entire match. * ** Default value is 0 ** Whether or not hostages can be hurt. ;Counter-Strike * ** Default value is 2000 ** How far can the pre-rescue music be heard ;Navigation * ** Checks to be sure every (or just the marked) nav area can get to every goal area for the map (hostages or bomb site). * ** Default value is 1000 ** Maximum of how hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects. |-| Bugs & Exploits * During the Counter-Strike Beta, hostages would often be used as platforms, allowing their leaders to reach normally inaccessible areas of the map. * Ping of Death bots will kill hostages should they block their paths. * If forced into a cramped space, a hostage may become stuck. Although they cannot be moved by anyone, there is a small chance that they automatically reappear at their spawn point. * Due to a lack of multiple hitboxes, the G-Man model possessing only one cannot be headshot. All damage dealt to him will be considered chest/arms damage. ** In addition, the G-Man model lacks any death animations. This causes him to remain in an idle animation on death without any collision. * Early and Beta versions of Counter-Strike allow players to "steal" other people's hostages by pressing the use key on already following hostages, causing them to change rescuer. * A visual bug in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero causes dying hostages to replay their death animations after leaving and re-entering the room they were in. * Activating the debug mode for hostages in both Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for Terrorists to lead and carry hostages. This feature is bugged in the latter game as carrying the hostage will spawn a duplicate atop of the carrier, preventing any movement until the hostage is dropped (on death) or until the user noclips. * If a hostage is killed in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive after mp_hostages_takedamage is enabled, their ragdoll will clip halfway through the ground atop of having a duplicate play the kneeling animation a last time before disappearing. Trivia *The Counter-Strike: Source hostages are the only in-game characters in the entire franchise to have full facial animations. All other characters have either static expressions, mouth only movement or are only seen in trailers. *Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is currently the only game that includes "enhanced" hostages that have a considerably better A.I. guidance system than the other CS games. *The Suit hostage model introduced in the Counter-Strike Beta was used to create the VIP playermodel. Behind the scenes Unused quotes from the hostages in the Deleted Scenes suggest that wounded hostages would be either slowed or immobilized, requiring first aid before moving any further. Said quotes thank the player for giving them a "shot". This suggests that either the Syringe Gun or the Portable Medkit were to be used on hostages. External links *Hostage at Wikipedia Category:Gameplay Category:Factions Category:Faction galleries